Yitro, (Jethro, Moses' father-in-law), a priest of Median "…heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel…" freeing them from slavery and guiding them through the Sinai wilderness (Ex. 18:1). This notion of hearing/knowing all that God has done is magnified here in Israel throughout the Jewish calendar. Since making Aliyah this past summer our experience observing the Sabbaths and holy days have been unlike any other, and here comes Tu B'Shvat. My friend and colleague Esther hit the nail on the head in her Tu B'Shvat email: "…I love that you can always tell what holiday it is here by what's on sale at the supermarket (There are already hamentaschen out for Purim…). The almond trees are beginning to bloom and flowers are popping up everywhere...And the best news is that the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) has risen over 62 centimeters since the beginning of January (@-212.99m, 1cm above the lower red line)… I am always reminded of my childhood on Tu B’Shvat... We received baggies tied with twisties filled with really dried fruit and there was always yucky dried up carob and I never really got it. WHY did we have to eat this and WHAT did it have to do with Israel and WHY did it taste so bad? I think I get it now. And the fruit tastes great here!"
Thank you Esther, I get it now too. I think of my ancestors who dreamt of a return to Zion, who celebrated Tu B'Shvat in the freezing weather as it is in Eastern Europe, or somewhere else in the world. How difficult it must have been to imagine the "Shkedia Porachat", the Almond Tree bloom or flowers blossom, in the dead of winter; and I think to myself - Ein li eretz acheret… I have no other land.
Thank you Yitro, the Median Priest, who reminds us of all that is great and holy in our world – davka this week during Tu B'Shvat as we witness the nature of things – here in Israel. Tu B'Shvat h'giya hag la'ilanot!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Why & how are we?
Jacob was to be known as Isra-el."...כי שרית עם אלוקים ועם אנשים, ותוכל..." (בראשית לב:כט) - 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast struggled with God and with humanity, and hast prevailed.' (Genesis 32:29). Isra-el struggles with God and with humanity. We, the People of Isra-el, maintain that struggle/interaction from time immemorial. Our collective narrative is safeguarded and remains relevant as a result of our interaction with life, generating questions & not accepting things as they are. The People of Israel, worldwide, are attempting to answer these questions through conferences, encounters, projects, books, articles, and so much more tackling Jewish Peoplehood, identity and Israel's religious make-up. Many of us are engaged in Tikun Israel, in confronting and overcoming our challenges – many more must join. Please post your ideas, questions, concerns, articles, and initiatives for all to see and consider getting involved in this movement of reclamation, of Tikun Israel.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
שבת שירה
בשבת הקרוב, שבת שירה - אנו מוצאים חיזוק והשראה דרך שתי דמויות מרכזיות: מרים הנביאה ודבורה הנביאה ושופטת. כשחוצים בני ישראל את ים סוף, חוצים את קו העבדות לחירות. זה בעצם תחילת התפתחות בני ישראל --> לעם ישראל, "וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף--בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת. כא וַתַּעַן לָהֶם, מִרְיָם: שִׁירוּ לַה'..." (שמות טו:כ-כא). ובדמות השנייה: "ודבורה אישה נביאה...שפטה את ישראל בעת ההיא..." דבורה מצוה את ברק להילחם בסיסרא, והוא עונה לה: "וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ בָּרָק, אִם-תֵּלְכִי עִמִּי וְהָלָכְתִּי; וְאִם-לֹא תֵלְכִי עִמִּי, לֹא אֵלֵךְ..." (שופטים ד:ד-ח) בשני המקרים אנו עדים לנשים חזקות, אשר בקולם בני ישראל עוקבים. זה היה אז, היום אותו אישה חזקה עלולה להידחף לפינה של שתיקה. אוי לנו. ההתמודדות שלנו מול השתיקה מחייבת אותנו להסתכל אחורה ובעצם מעיין בנו. תיקון ישראל מחייבת אותנו לעסוק בחשבון נפש- גם ברמה האישי וגם ברמה הציבורי. יחד נדע מעין בנו ולאן אנחנו הולכים.
שבת שירה - The Sabbath of Song
This Shabbat, Shabbat Shira, we find strength and hope in two strong women: the Prophetess Miriam (sister of Moses and Aharon) and the Prophetess AND Judge Deborah. In the former, upon crossing the Sea of Reeds, "Miriam...took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam sang unto them: Sing ye to the LORD..." (Exodus 15:20-21). In the latter "Deborah, a prophetess,...judged Israel at that time." Commanding Barak to take on Sisera's army, Barak replies:'If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go.' (Judges 4:4-8). In both instances we find wise, strong women. Women whose voices are heard, whose voices our people followed. That was then; today we find ourselves in a dilema - strong women whose voices are surpressed. Engaging in Tikun Israel requires us to look back and know from where we came, by discovering the values of our ancestors - together we will know where we are headed.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Mourning Ayelet Galena
By Gabrielle Birkner
Ayelet Galena
“With unstoppable tears and broken hearts we regret to announce that last night around 5AM, after hours of fighting and holding on, our precious Ayelet - the heart of our world, the light and strength for so many, could not fight any more.”
With those words, Seth and Hindy Poupko Galena announced the January 31 death of their 2-year-old daughter, Ayelet Yakira. The little girl, suffering from a rare bone marrow disease, had received a transplant 154 days earlier.
Many of the thousands of those mourning Ayelet today knew her only through the Tumblr blog where her parents chronicled, with remarkable compassion, eloquence and humor, the toddler’s courageous fight.
It is, perhaps, no surprise that were able to laugh through their tears; Ayelet’s dad runs the popular “kosher comedy” website Bang It Out.
The Galenas’ posts were accompanied, most days, by a photo of Ayelet. Early photos showed the little girl, dressed in frilly frocks, bouncing in an ExerSaucer and pulling at the pages of her pop-up book. But as the months passed, and Ayelet’s condition grew worse, the images provided an unflinching look at the little girl’s reality: There were myriad tubes and machines connected to Ayelet’s swollen body and bald head (which was always lovingly covered with floral hats and headbands).
Her Modern Orthodox parents wrote about Shabbats celebrated at their daughter’s bedside, at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital, and about reciting the post-bathroom Asher Yatzar blessing, so that Ayelet’s kidneys might again begin working. (“We need a big night of peeing and prayer,” they wrote on January 30.) Their Tumblr journal, which I’d love to see turned into a book, has a thing or two to teach all of us about facing life’s greatest challenges with courage and grace and laughter.
There is another lesson to be gleaned from the Galenas’ story, or specifically, from the communal response to it — as gauged by the comments on Tumblr and and Facebook, where Ayelet had more than 5,200 fans. In our darkest hours, there’s a natural inclination to retreat inward. But this family shows us how powerful doing the opposite can be. In sharing their private pain, they fostered an extended support network that has, in turn, helped sustain them.
“Your likes, your prayers, your comments, your emails, your texts, your challahs. All these, every single one is read/felt/tasted by us,” they wrote on January 24, a week before Ayelet’s death. “We read everything, and they are the single reason we are still standing. “
May they continue to find strength in the community they inspired.
Ayelet Galena
“With unstoppable tears and broken hearts we regret to announce that last night around 5AM, after hours of fighting and holding on, our precious Ayelet - the heart of our world, the light and strength for so many, could not fight any more.”
With those words, Seth and Hindy Poupko Galena announced the January 31 death of their 2-year-old daughter, Ayelet Yakira. The little girl, suffering from a rare bone marrow disease, had received a transplant 154 days earlier.
Many of the thousands of those mourning Ayelet today knew her only through the Tumblr blog where her parents chronicled, with remarkable compassion, eloquence and humor, the toddler’s courageous fight.
It is, perhaps, no surprise that were able to laugh through their tears; Ayelet’s dad runs the popular “kosher comedy” website Bang It Out.
The Galenas’ posts were accompanied, most days, by a photo of Ayelet. Early photos showed the little girl, dressed in frilly frocks, bouncing in an ExerSaucer and pulling at the pages of her pop-up book. But as the months passed, and Ayelet’s condition grew worse, the images provided an unflinching look at the little girl’s reality: There were myriad tubes and machines connected to Ayelet’s swollen body and bald head (which was always lovingly covered with floral hats and headbands).
Her Modern Orthodox parents wrote about Shabbats celebrated at their daughter’s bedside, at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital, and about reciting the post-bathroom Asher Yatzar blessing, so that Ayelet’s kidneys might again begin working. (“We need a big night of peeing and prayer,” they wrote on January 30.) Their Tumblr journal, which I’d love to see turned into a book, has a thing or two to teach all of us about facing life’s greatest challenges with courage and grace and laughter.
There is another lesson to be gleaned from the Galenas’ story, or specifically, from the communal response to it — as gauged by the comments on Tumblr and and Facebook, where Ayelet had more than 5,200 fans. In our darkest hours, there’s a natural inclination to retreat inward. But this family shows us how powerful doing the opposite can be. In sharing their private pain, they fostered an extended support network that has, in turn, helped sustain them.
“Your likes, your prayers, your comments, your emails, your texts, your challahs. All these, every single one is read/felt/tasted by us,” they wrote on January 24, a week before Ayelet’s death. “We read everything, and they are the single reason we are still standing. “
May they continue to find strength in the community they inspired.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Continuous Revelations - In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt that “…this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: …that all men are created equal." Dr. King’s dream extended beyond healing African-American suffering; his vision was meant to impact and heal society as a whole. In 1895 Theodor Herzl shared a similar vision for Jewish emancipation when he stated that “the world will be liberated by our freedom…" (Der Judenstaat, “The Jewish State”).
In both movements the calls for freedom and self-determination for a specific group has had the potential to extend beyond that particular group. But how can we realize that potential when racism still exists and the People of Israel remains beset by it's own set of challenges?
Martin Luther King Day should not be marked simply as a memorial day. It is a day of action; a day that inspires us to imagine and realize the collective dream of a better tomorrow.
It has been nearly half a century since Dr. King shared his dream, and over a century since Herzl shared his. Yet, the passage of time has placed the greater potential of those dreams further from our grasp. Today, sharing in Dr. King and Herzl’s dreams means that we must move from merely longing for what might be in the future and rather focus on what can be in the present. Acting out Dr. King or Herzl’s dream is a continuous journey; a journey whose very purpose is in the present.
Paramount in both dreams is identifying the common denominator that unites a people. For the African-Americans in the 1960s, it was a common struggle against hundreds of years of slavery, oppression, and inequality based on color. For the Jews in Herzl’s time, it was a struggle to put the Jewish collective back on track following 2,000 years of wandering and persecution, through geo-political self-determination. However, for the Jewish People of today, who cannot recall what life was like before the establishment of the state of Israel, the dream as described by Herzl may seem irrelevant. After all, the pogroms of Europe and Czarist Russia and the Shoah are distant in our collective memory. Today we must face the challenges presented by the disintegration of the social fabric of Jewish Peoplehood, in Israel and around the world.
Today’s Zionism is better served by engaging in a “Tikun Israel”, a healing of Israel. It is an old concept, really. Moses engaged in “Tikun Israel” when he convinced the Israelites to leave Egypt for a return to the Promised Land, and Herzl engaged in “Tikun Israel” when he convinced the world that the answer to the Jewish question was a return to Zion. Today, we must continue to push for a return to Zion, a “state” of self-determination in the face of increasing internal challenges.
As supporters of the Civil Rights Movement stand proud in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, continuing to realize his dream, Israel must continue to serve as the collective platform where honest debate leads to effective action - realized dreams. If we do not heal ourselves, how can we heal others?
We stand atop the shoulders of these dreamers to become inspired by the potential of the journey ahead, a journey that started at Exodus, inspiring Dr. King to lead his people to the “Promised Land”, and moved Herzl to declare the founding of the Jewish State fifty years prior to its establishment. This is a journey that will continue to realize its potential for tomorrow so long as we recognize the need for today - “Tikun Israel”, healing Israel. For the sake of our children - we must continue to will it and Zion will never be subject to dreams again.
In both movements the calls for freedom and self-determination for a specific group has had the potential to extend beyond that particular group. But how can we realize that potential when racism still exists and the People of Israel remains beset by it's own set of challenges?
Martin Luther King Day should not be marked simply as a memorial day. It is a day of action; a day that inspires us to imagine and realize the collective dream of a better tomorrow.
It has been nearly half a century since Dr. King shared his dream, and over a century since Herzl shared his. Yet, the passage of time has placed the greater potential of those dreams further from our grasp. Today, sharing in Dr. King and Herzl’s dreams means that we must move from merely longing for what might be in the future and rather focus on what can be in the present. Acting out Dr. King or Herzl’s dream is a continuous journey; a journey whose very purpose is in the present.
Paramount in both dreams is identifying the common denominator that unites a people. For the African-Americans in the 1960s, it was a common struggle against hundreds of years of slavery, oppression, and inequality based on color. For the Jews in Herzl’s time, it was a struggle to put the Jewish collective back on track following 2,000 years of wandering and persecution, through geo-political self-determination. However, for the Jewish People of today, who cannot recall what life was like before the establishment of the state of Israel, the dream as described by Herzl may seem irrelevant. After all, the pogroms of Europe and Czarist Russia and the Shoah are distant in our collective memory. Today we must face the challenges presented by the disintegration of the social fabric of Jewish Peoplehood, in Israel and around the world.
Today’s Zionism is better served by engaging in a “Tikun Israel”, a healing of Israel. It is an old concept, really. Moses engaged in “Tikun Israel” when he convinced the Israelites to leave Egypt for a return to the Promised Land, and Herzl engaged in “Tikun Israel” when he convinced the world that the answer to the Jewish question was a return to Zion. Today, we must continue to push for a return to Zion, a “state” of self-determination in the face of increasing internal challenges.
As supporters of the Civil Rights Movement stand proud in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, continuing to realize his dream, Israel must continue to serve as the collective platform where honest debate leads to effective action - realized dreams. If we do not heal ourselves, how can we heal others?
We stand atop the shoulders of these dreamers to become inspired by the potential of the journey ahead, a journey that started at Exodus, inspiring Dr. King to lead his people to the “Promised Land”, and moved Herzl to declare the founding of the Jewish State fifty years prior to its establishment. This is a journey that will continue to realize its potential for tomorrow so long as we recognize the need for today - “Tikun Israel”, healing Israel. For the sake of our children - we must continue to will it and Zion will never be subject to dreams again.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
A Matter of Life and Death
This past June we made Aliyah. In less than two months we’ve been thrown into the complex reality that is life in Israel. We’ve mastered the rough seas of bureaucratic processes and citizenship requirements; we’ve found a wonderful neighborhood to live in, schools for our children, employment, and inspiration in the Cottage Cheese Revolution’s transformation to a call for Tzedek Hevrati - Social Justice. And then the sirens started followed by missiles. As a new immigrant, an Oleh, I was prepared for the administrative web of absorption - draining one’s every ounce of celebratory eagerness upon arrival to Israel. For this we were prepared, however there is no preparing for the unexpected – having to run for our lives to shelter from missile attack. We live in Be’er Sheva. In Be’er Sheva is where we imagine the start of our new lives and there is where I got a job as Director of Hillel at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
The first siren hit us at 11:30pm. With not much intellectual analysis of the situation as it occurred, we grabbed our two boys, fast asleep in bed, and ran for shelter. The kids (6 and 3 years old) weren’t quite sure what was going on and didn’t remember a thing the following morning; that all changed the next morning at 5:51am. We jumped out of bed, grabbed the kids and into the bomb shelter. That siren didn’t escape their consciousness, they were wide awake and the questions started pouring in: Why are we in here? What’s that sound? What was that boom? And why is someone doing this to us?
Prepared for dealing with Aliyah and having received a detailed list of offices and procedures we needed to get through in order to receive citizenship – there was no hand out detailing what to do in the event of a missile attack. However there is instinct, in this case instinct to live - simple but complex. Simple in that we strive to live, strive to create life, build homes and relationships. Judaism emphasizes our role as active participants in creation, Zionism the catalyst for action. It is complex because I have never had to run for my life, as a Jew, living in the United States; wretchedly complex because here in the Jewish State, the one place in the world Jews should be free to live life – we run for cover. Not since the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin and the birth of our children has my perspective on life and death been so dramatically altered as it has in reaction to the recent missile attacks.
Serving Jews of North America as a rabbi, educator, organizational professional and lay leader, I was focused on creating innovative Jewish curricula and projects, and teaching “authentic Israel”. I now know there is nothing authentic about teaching Israel in the Diaspora, and there is no way to authenticate this field of study without having Israel, the geographical and metaphysical space, with all her complexities, rooted in Jewish curricula and programming.
I am as proud as any other Jew of our little Start-Up Nation. I’m proud of the country’s accomplishments in 63 years, and I can spew talking points highlighting all that Israel is – all that inspires us - but this is just half of the story. Behind the accomplishments and inspiration stands a People that pays a heavy price for all our “feel good” compliments. It is a matter of life and death, and no one is talking about it. Choices of life or death consistently impact Jewish memory and experience. These choices have shaped our way of life from the days of Ancient Israel to the present state of affairs.
I’m all for innovation, turning the page, and creating a Zeitgeist like formula that will catch on to the winds of change thereby re-uniting Jewish Peoplehood, but I’m not for it if it means repeating the same mistakes the generation of David Ben-Gurion committed in their imagining the “New Jew”, a tree whose roots are weak but whose branches are strong. One gust of wind and the tree is uprooted. Being a Jew is wonderful, but being a Jew is also tough and requires deep seeded conviction.
Hoping for this last Shabbat to be a quiet one we posted peaceful status updates on Face Book. That hope for peace was quickly abandoned in a heart skipping beat when a siren went off at 9am, except this time we weren’t home and we couldn’t get to our bomb shelter in the 7 seconds recommended between hearing the siren and finding shelter. Thankfully we are fine.
For thousands of years we have been raising our hearts in prayer to Zion, and for thousands of years Israel has been our shelter, really. The hope of our People as they cried by the rivers of Babylon, and the inspiration it brought our grandparents in the face of humanity’s abandonment of the Jewish People before, during and after World War II. Our children want to know the truth; they need to know the truth. It’s time we remove the blinders of individual causes and politics, and rediscover the essence that is our People’s unity and mission in this world – it starts with Israel. Innovation is not as necessary as honesty. Formal and informal education can engage students in a period of Israeli/Jewish current events, funding school trips to Israel upon graduation, active recruitment for Israel trips and volunteering, and a parent-teacher track providing knowledge, tools and the confidence needed to discuss Israel in the classroom, at home, and the greater community. These are just a few simple ideas that come to mind as I sit here thinking of the critical need for genuine dialogue. The point is we must be honest with ourselves and we must be honest with our children. Only by internalizing and actively perpetuating the value of “kol Yisrael arevim zeh b’zeh”, all of Israel is responsible one for the other, will our children get the point and get on board. Before we can heal the world we must heal ourselves, Tikkun Israel before Tikkun Olam.
Need to run – the sirens are blasting - it’s a matter of life or death, really.
**Rabbi Leor Sinai made Aliyah with his wife and two boys this past June. He is outgoing Executive Director of The Jewish Lens, a Vice President for the American Zionist Movement, and is incoming Director of Hillel at Ben Gurion University of the Negev
The first siren hit us at 11:30pm. With not much intellectual analysis of the situation as it occurred, we grabbed our two boys, fast asleep in bed, and ran for shelter. The kids (6 and 3 years old) weren’t quite sure what was going on and didn’t remember a thing the following morning; that all changed the next morning at 5:51am. We jumped out of bed, grabbed the kids and into the bomb shelter. That siren didn’t escape their consciousness, they were wide awake and the questions started pouring in: Why are we in here? What’s that sound? What was that boom? And why is someone doing this to us?
Prepared for dealing with Aliyah and having received a detailed list of offices and procedures we needed to get through in order to receive citizenship – there was no hand out detailing what to do in the event of a missile attack. However there is instinct, in this case instinct to live - simple but complex. Simple in that we strive to live, strive to create life, build homes and relationships. Judaism emphasizes our role as active participants in creation, Zionism the catalyst for action. It is complex because I have never had to run for my life, as a Jew, living in the United States; wretchedly complex because here in the Jewish State, the one place in the world Jews should be free to live life – we run for cover. Not since the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin and the birth of our children has my perspective on life and death been so dramatically altered as it has in reaction to the recent missile attacks.
Serving Jews of North America as a rabbi, educator, organizational professional and lay leader, I was focused on creating innovative Jewish curricula and projects, and teaching “authentic Israel”. I now know there is nothing authentic about teaching Israel in the Diaspora, and there is no way to authenticate this field of study without having Israel, the geographical and metaphysical space, with all her complexities, rooted in Jewish curricula and programming.
I am as proud as any other Jew of our little Start-Up Nation. I’m proud of the country’s accomplishments in 63 years, and I can spew talking points highlighting all that Israel is – all that inspires us - but this is just half of the story. Behind the accomplishments and inspiration stands a People that pays a heavy price for all our “feel good” compliments. It is a matter of life and death, and no one is talking about it. Choices of life or death consistently impact Jewish memory and experience. These choices have shaped our way of life from the days of Ancient Israel to the present state of affairs.
I’m all for innovation, turning the page, and creating a Zeitgeist like formula that will catch on to the winds of change thereby re-uniting Jewish Peoplehood, but I’m not for it if it means repeating the same mistakes the generation of David Ben-Gurion committed in their imagining the “New Jew”, a tree whose roots are weak but whose branches are strong. One gust of wind and the tree is uprooted. Being a Jew is wonderful, but being a Jew is also tough and requires deep seeded conviction.
Hoping for this last Shabbat to be a quiet one we posted peaceful status updates on Face Book. That hope for peace was quickly abandoned in a heart skipping beat when a siren went off at 9am, except this time we weren’t home and we couldn’t get to our bomb shelter in the 7 seconds recommended between hearing the siren and finding shelter. Thankfully we are fine.
For thousands of years we have been raising our hearts in prayer to Zion, and for thousands of years Israel has been our shelter, really. The hope of our People as they cried by the rivers of Babylon, and the inspiration it brought our grandparents in the face of humanity’s abandonment of the Jewish People before, during and after World War II. Our children want to know the truth; they need to know the truth. It’s time we remove the blinders of individual causes and politics, and rediscover the essence that is our People’s unity and mission in this world – it starts with Israel. Innovation is not as necessary as honesty. Formal and informal education can engage students in a period of Israeli/Jewish current events, funding school trips to Israel upon graduation, active recruitment for Israel trips and volunteering, and a parent-teacher track providing knowledge, tools and the confidence needed to discuss Israel in the classroom, at home, and the greater community. These are just a few simple ideas that come to mind as I sit here thinking of the critical need for genuine dialogue. The point is we must be honest with ourselves and we must be honest with our children. Only by internalizing and actively perpetuating the value of “kol Yisrael arevim zeh b’zeh”, all of Israel is responsible one for the other, will our children get the point and get on board. Before we can heal the world we must heal ourselves, Tikkun Israel before Tikkun Olam.
Need to run – the sirens are blasting - it’s a matter of life or death, really.
**Rabbi Leor Sinai made Aliyah with his wife and two boys this past June. He is outgoing Executive Director of The Jewish Lens, a Vice President for the American Zionist Movement, and is incoming Director of Hillel at Ben Gurion University of the Negev
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